June 26 –
Women's sports
activists say
schools across the
nation may be in
violation of a
federal law when
they accept
donations from
corporations in the
form of boys' sports
apparel, while girls
have to pay for
their own equipment.
Adopted in 1972,
a law known as Title
IX bans gender
discrimination in
school athletics, as
well as academic
activities.
Joe Kelly,
president of Dads
and Daughters, a
national advocacy
group working to
change cultural
messages that
devalue girls and
women, said,
"There's a good case
to be made that if
you're going to
accept donations for
a boys' team, you
should ask for a
similar donation for
the girls' team.
That would certainly
be in the spirit of
Title IX."
There are
currently no
publicly available
statistics on how
many high school
sports teams are
sponsored by private
companies. Repeated
calls to the shoe
companies Nike,
Adidas and Reebok
were not returned.
Emily Salisbury
played basketball at
South Medford High
School in Medford
Oregon, where star
basketball forward
Kyle Singler has
attracted
sponsorship from the
Nike corporation.
The boys' basketball
team receives free
shoes and apparel
from the
Oregon-based
company. In a
one-woman campaign
that began late last
year, Salisbury's
mother, Mary, has
been urging school
officials to offer
similar perks to the
girls' team.
"The shoe
companies have every
right to operate on
a purely business
level, but public
schools aren't in
that same business,"
Mary Salisbury said.
"When they receive
donations of any
kind, it is up to
the school officials
to make sure that
everything is
somewhat equitable."
Mary Salisbury,
who grew up playing
basketball in Flint,
Michigan, shared her
concerns with South
Medford Principal
Kevin Campbell and
athletic director
Dennis Murphy in a
hand-delivered
letter. She says
both administrators
met her with polite
but firm opposition.
Calls by The New
Standard to the
school were not
returned by press
time.
When she began
educating herself
about the issue of
corporate
sponsorship in high
schools, Salisbury
learned this was not
a new trend.
According to Sole
Influence, a
book written by
sports journalists
Dan Wetzel and Don
Yaeger, companies
like Nike, Adidas
and Reebok began
looking for
outstanding players
to sponsor at the
high school level in
the mid-1990s.
Wetzel and Yaeger
say the corporate
competition for
younger athletes was
spurred on by Adidas
recruiter Sonny
Vaccaro, who
brokered a deal
between Adidas and
basketball celebrity
Kobe Bryant, upon
Bryant's graduation
from high school in
1996.
"Essentially,
it's a way to
promote brand
loyalty," said Susan
Linn, co-founder of
Campaign for
Commercial Free
Childhood. "It makes
the corporations
look as though
they're doing a
positive thing. It
looks like corporate
social
responsibility, but
in reality, its
marketing."
So far, Salisbury
says she has
received little more
than form letters
from the companies
in response to her
queries.
While equitable
donations from
corporate sponsors
might solve the
funding disparity
between the sexes,
Donna Lopiano, CEO
of the Women's
Sports Foundation,
says the
responsibility for
fairness lies with
the schools
themselves.
"The institution
must comply with
federal law,"
Lopiano said. "Title
IX doesn't say you
have to spend the
same amount of money
on girls and boys.
Different sports
cost different
things. But it does
deal with benefits,
like shoes and
equipment. If you
provide those
benefits for boys,
you need to provide
them for girls."
Lopiano said
concerned parents
have adequate
grounds to take
legal action when
schools fail to
comply with the
federal statute.
Since Salisbury has
indicated
definitively that
she does not intend
to sue, Lopiano said
another option would
be to file a
complaint with the
Office of Civil
Rights of the U.S.
Department of
Education.
Emily Salisbury
says she is proud of
her mom's campaign.
"Our boys teams do
deserve
[sponsorship]," she
said, "but they
should think about
how that makes the
girls feel when they
don't really get
anything, like we
aren't as good as
the boys are."
According to Linn
and the Campaign for
a Commercial-Free
Childhood, donations
of athletic apparel
is just one of the
many ways
corporations use to
access teenagers.
The practice falls
in line with the
distribution of
branded teaching
materials, contests
such as the Pizza
Hut Book-It program,
vending machines on
campus and ads on
school buses.
"If a school is
dependent on a
company for money or
for things that it
needs, they're
certainly less
likely to [examine]
labor practices or
environmental
violations or any
kind of corporate
practices," Linn
said. "That's
terribly
concerning."
